SHOP.CA has a consumer rating of 1.69 stars from 217 reviews indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Consumers complaining about SHOP.CA most frequently mention customer service, credit card and gift cards problems. SHOP.CA ranks 289th among Electronics sites.
No positive highlights yet
I purchased a suitcase that was supposed to be shipped "within 3 business days". A week later, the item's status still showed as "supplier processing". I called their support line where the recording told me that they were experiencing "normal than higher call volumes" (sic). I had sent an e-mail and indeed received a response within their target response time (24-36 hours). Turns out the item was already shipped and waiting for pickup at my local Purolator depot. There was something wrong with shop.ca's online status update system. Otherwise, my experience was good, the item's price was very reasonable, and shipping was fast and free.
The website is really a joke. If you leave some review on Sitejabber, they said they would like to turn it around. I know it sounds wonderful, right? But the fact is, they just told you that the supplier cancel the order without the explanation. That means they can handle your order whatever they like, but shop.ca are not responsible and has no willing to solve any problem! Give my refund back! I want to stay away from this website forever!
I purchased a suitcase that was supposed to be shipped "within 3 business days". A week later, the item's status still showed as "supplier processing". I called their support line where the recording told me that they were experiencing "normal than higher call volumes" (sic). I had sent an e-mail and indeed received a response within their target response time (24-36 hours). Turns out the item was already shipped and waiting for pickup at my local Purolator depot. There was something wrong with shop.ca's online status update system. Otherwise, my experience was good, the item's price was very reasonable, and shipping was fast and free.
Tip for consumers:
Use e-mail support if you have any questions re your item and have just a little bit of patience.
Really like the site, love Bonus coupon they give you however many products are overpriced found some products a lot cheaper at amazon
I don't, understand how they can have items for half price and I find them elsewhere at regular price and about 3-5 dollars cheaper. That really bothered me, it's as if they just pretend to make up a sale when really they are just selling the product at the same price as everyone
Hope the work on there prices really want to stay with them.
Why the many negative reviews, each shopping experience is different. Mine with this store turn out to be quite well.
I have had successful transactions with shop.ca before but this latest one is terrible.
Part of my order was cancelled without notice and the other part has been "Shipping Soon" for 2 weeks. When contacting customer service by e-mail you do not get a response and by phoning their number you are told they are experiencing a higher than normal call volume and the machine hangs up.
Very sketchy. At this point I would like to just cancel my order and purchase from somewhere I trust.
Sorry to hear about that. We would love to regain your confidence in us so if you would please email support@shop.ca with your order id and subject line Site Jabber we would like to look into this and get back to you.
Thanks,
SHOP
I bought a food processor and I didn't want it after I looked at it. I wanted the more up to date one. I called them and I can't remember whether I printed out the return postage or it was in the box. But anyways I returned it no problem and no expense to me. I am not the one that buys expensive items to look at and send them back but I do make a mistakes every so often and it is nice to know it won't cost me anything. I find some of their products are higher and some are lower. You have to be a smart shopper and I do find good deals here too. It's one of my go to shop places on the net :)
The website is really a joke. If you leave some review on Sitejabber, they said they would like to turn it around. I know it sounds wonderful, right? But the fact is, they just told you that the supplier cancel the order without the explanation. That means they can handle your order whatever they like, but shop.ca are not responsible and has no willing to solve any problem! Give my refund back! I want to stay away from this website forever!
Don't trust what the website promises on the shipping: Leaves warehouse within X business days! That's totally a joke! Nothing happened since I received the order confirmation email. Order received but disappeared forever!
Tip for consumers:
Avoid it!
I think shop.ca means well... but good intentions are not good enough.
I have purchased about 10 items from them ranging from $50 - $300 each.
I felt bad returning a few things but I had my reasons. One reason being the order took 1.5 months to finally ship and I had to make alternate arrangements and purchase the items elsewhere (being a gift). The other time I had an unopened unused product that was returned and refunded in the form of store credit. I was simply taking advantage of the 365 day returns they offer and it was all legit.
PROS
- they really do accept returns
- shipping is free on almost everything
- they are friendly when they email you back
CONS
- They are mostly selling items through the use of third parties vendors. Basically the same way in how amazon does this (which is an awesome online store but the third party sellers always jack up the prices considerably high there too). However, Shop.ca is almost entirely all third party vendors. This means terrible pricing and no accountability. Shop.ca always has a scapegoat. The vendors control the pricing (and it is really poor. I have seen $5 items at amazon listed as $50 at shop.ca for example). The shipping times are also dictated by these third parties. I have had items arrive in a couple days (rarely) to as long as 1.5 months after having to request it to be shipped and shop.ca having to "contact the vendor". Shop.ca is simply the middleman and both the consumer and shop.ca are at the mercy of these sellers who don't seem to really care. Many of them are selling their items elsewhere too.
- Returns are slow! I mean really slow. You have to keep contacting shop.ca and logging into your account to verify since they don't even email you when the refund is completed (they say they will though). Expect to wait 2-4 weeks for your refund to process. I waited just over a month for mine and then the item I wanted was out of stock.
- The website is a little difficult to navigate, there are technical and spelling errors and the stock and inventory is very poor. I purchased an item after their recent web update and the $15 off promo code did not apply. I cancelled the order (thanks goodness there was a button to do so) and immediately tried to reorder the two items. I couldn't! The items were now listed as out of stock (because I bought them) and it is now pulled from the site entirely and after contacting them shop.ca can't do anything or has any record. So in short there are inventory issues.
- This is speculation on my part but after a lot of time trying to find something to spend my credit on it looks as if a lot of the items are year end stock and returned products from the vendors. One order I received had the price tags scratched off of all the items. I suspect it was due to it being cheaper if I purchased it in their store. I had no choice, I had to use my credit up. Another item (electronic) also had a paint chip and some very mild wear that led me to believe it was a store demo model.
- I have $5 credit left and am trying to make a small purchase. Everytime I click on the item I want I get a website error (tried on 3 computers, iphone and ipad too). I am then locked out of the site and have to clear my cache. I am awaiting assistance on this matter.
I could go on and on and my rant here does little justice. I purchase a lot of things online. I will stick with amazon, newegg etc... and even ebay is a more reliable system and that isn't saying a whole lot. If you can apply a promo code and have done your pricing research then you may score a good deal at shop.ca, but expect to wait anywhere from a few days to over a month... and don't even think of returning it. There is just to much energy required to buy from them.
I suspect that shop.ca will not be around much longer. They are doing an inferior outdated version of what others are already doing fairly well. Perhaps they will refine their system and take the endless amounts of criticism to heart. I get the impression they want to dominate but they are up against a lot. Time will tell. I wish them the best and hope they can begin to offer competitive pricing and an efficient shopping experience.
UPDATE
---
I ordered two items on May 1st, the items page says it will ship from the vendor in 5 days. I received the following email (for each item) on May. 6 instead:
"... has been flagged as back ordered from the supplier. The expected ship date is May 27,2014."
Once again this reinforces my point concerning inventory issues and slow arrival.
UPDATE 2
They have been pleasant to deal with and went above and beyond to help sort these issues. I have adjusted my rating. The issues above are there but they really do mean well.
Time delays in shipping (getting orders processed to when it is shipped) are long. Customer service leaves a lot to be desired - very slow in responding. Have not been overly impressed with quality of product
One month to receive an outdoor furniture set that was supposed to arrive in 5 days.
Another month to have someone pick it up as the set was damaged.
Endless, and I mean endless frustrating hours on the phone struggling to get the arrangements made.
The Shop.ca staff did their best, and I thank them for their efforts, but their hands are tied as all arrangements must be made through the distributor.
Shop.ca is merely the middleman, with no authority or ability to make anything happen should something go wrong.
So I made my first purchase with Shop.ca after finding a discount coupon on the web. I bought a Blu-Ray TV Series Box set Tuesday morning (7AM) and received it today Wednesday (10:30AM). Other reviewers stated customer support or order issues. My order was packaged perfectly and correctly. I am glad I didn't cancel my order after reading all of those negative reviews!
I ordered a camera which was an amazing deal. Although they over sold the product, they were extremely accommodating. They purchased another Camera to send to me even though it was a different colour. They also upgraded the memory card and gave me a 25 dollar credit for the inconvenience. I was amazed with their customer service. I will definitely purchase from there again
I ordered a ukulele a month ago and it said it will be arrived on August 14 and it did so this is a normal website
The whole point of this site was supposed to be to offer Canadians a wide range of products online, with convenience & free shipping, something hard to come by north of the border. Unfortunately shop.ca has proved to be nothing but a giant headache for customers. This company does not bother responding to your emails. You have to chase them down to get any response. Terrible service, takes forever to ship (if you get it at all), and nothing but endless hassles and excuses.
3 days ago I received an email solicitation from PayPal to shop with Shop.ca. By signing up with Shop.ca, I would receive $25 sign-up credit from Shop.ca and another $25 credit from PayPal for paying with PayPal. I was supposed to be able to apply both credits in my first purchase of $100 or more. However, during the check-out process, after I have chosen the PayPal payment option, I was unable to apply the $25 Shop.ca credit. I phoned Shop.ca to get the $25 credited to my first purchase retroactively but no one answered the phone. I email Shop.ca but a day later no one answered my email. I filed a complaint to PayPal but PayPal said it's not their problem. Finally I got an email from the CEO of Shop.ca who then directed the team leader of the customer support department of Shop.ca to help me to resolve the problem. I am very relieved that I finally get all the credits applied to my purchase.
It appeared that Shop.ca is doing really well recently in their sales and their customer support department is overwhelmed by the huge increase in customer requests as a consequence. Thus the non-answering of phone calls and slow response of emails. Hopefully Shop.ca fix this problem a. S.a. P.
Love the site. Order was easy to track and arrived as scheduled! My only complaint is with the product. I ordered a 5 panel set of pictures that proved to be the most frustrating things to hang. The teeth on mounting bracket were so closely spaced that even a small nail would not fit in between. When the next panel was hung, we could not get it to line up by the space between each. If we got the spacing right, the branches wouldn't line up from panel to panel. We ended up removing all the picture hangers and just hung each on a nail by the wooden framing that the canvas was attached to. We just received some other pictures today and checked out the picture hanging brackets on them and they are just fine.
I placed an order September 24; still have not received it. No one EVER answers the phone and I have yet to get a response to my email... super annoying. Not impressed at all.
I ordered laser printer toner from them, because of a promotion through PayPal with Shop.ca. The price was good because of the discount. Shipping was fast, everything arrived fine. But the product is crap! Might as well have no toner in my printer! So I complained to customer service. Only an automated response saying we'll get back to you.
So let's see: they sell junk, and won't respond when you complain about it. The good is they ship the junk to you ASAP!
Say away! Not recommended!
(They pay Google to promote these ads to reel you into their website)
They advertise a good deal on a Yamaha keyboard piano so I ordered it.
They send me a cheaper model. I tell them, they say return it for a refund their website was a mistake. After reading other peoples complaints I decide not to take a chance shipping it back and maybe it gets damaged and then I would be without the keyboard and the refund.
Shop.ca is only good if you have a $50 off coupon which I did, so it was still a good deal.
Customer service and shipping was fast.
Tip for consumers:
Get a $50 off coupon
Hey Joe, we're happy to hear you got a good deal! With our huge selection of products pricing errors may occur, despite best efforts. We offer Free Returns and will provide a prepaid Canada Post shipping label for you to send your item(s) back!
Ordered a shirt from shop.ca and they charged my credit card the same day. 3 weeks later still have not received the shirt. You cannot talk to someone at the "customer service" phone number they provide on their website... it goes to voicemail claiming they are receiving higher than normal call volumes and they suggest to email them. I've done so... time will tell if they are able to rectify the situation (I want my money back... I don't care about the shirt).
Dear Kristen,
We at Shop. Catry our best to provide a hassle-free experience for our customers. However, there are rare occasions, due to unforeseen circumstances on the part of the vendor, where the experiences do not meet the expected satisfaction of the customers. In such instances we do our best to turn such situations around. But we do have certain limitations in what we can offer our customers.
We asked the vendor to cancel your order when you emailed us on January 23rd inquiring about it. A refund is only processed through our system once the vendor cancels the order but they did not do that in a timely fashion. It seems that the amount was refunded February 3rd. We assure you that we are working hard to get back to our service levels and avoid situations like these.
Sorry once again.
I ordered a blue plaid shirt and waiting over two weeks for it to be delivered, to make things worse, the shirt was not even blue or the same brand name as the one I ordered. I thought maybe I had selected the wrong shirt and checked out before confirming but my order history and invoice left no doubt it wasn't my error. After I sent an email to Shop.ca, they responded two days later with a shipping label for a refund and that the shirt I wanted was out of stock.
I am a first time customer of Shop.ca. I must admit I was hesitant to order as there were so many negative reviews. That said - those reviews do not reflect my experience at all. I purchased an infant travel system (car seat & stroller) and could not be happier. It was more than half off the price I was going to pay at other locations, purchase process was easy & efficient, system arrived in a timely manner and product is exactly what I expected it to be. I would absolutely order from them again.
I had been hesitant to use this site, although was very encouraged when it was associated with air miles and ebates.ca - using these sites with shop.ca can greatly benefit the customer. So I went ahead and ordered the HP Envy 23 Recline noting that it would leave the warehouse within three days. Plus with other discounts and coupons, I got an amazing deal. There was some confusion when I checked and it read that it hadn't even begun to be processed after three days. I called to confirm the status and because there had been some concern due to thefts from our local post boxes, they said they had been delayed until I personally confirmed such a large order. Apparently, I had missed the phone call and when I called back four times, I didn't want to leave a message only to have them call back at their convenience - not mine. They really, really need to get rid of that darn thing and have a human answer when we call in. I would rather sit for 15 minutes on hold while drinking a coffee than to have them call back when I am in the middle of something - which I was and I wasn't as pleasant as I should have been. Once we realized that it was just miscommunication, they made up for the time delay and shipped it overnight. I couldn't have been happier. They are a relatively new company that will have its burps and hiccups, but they are truly trying to be the best they can be. BUT GET MORE PEOPLE TO WORK THE PHONE! I earned more bonus discounts, plus using ebates, you can get further discounts. Plus you can earn discounts on their facebook site plus other other couponing sites as well. I will be ordering from them again. I admit, when I checked for complaints and seen this site, my stomach sank, thinking I was so stupid for ordering from them with as many recent complaints seen here. There was some bumps on my first order, but they more than made up for it. And love my new computer, too. I will use shop.ca again.
I ordered an item and was worried as I hadn't heart of this company. After back and forth I received a full refund with a girt coming my way. It was exactly like the poduct, but in a different size. Beautiful sheepskin pillow. Thank you Shop.ca. I will be back! Lia MH
Hey Lisa, we're working to have your order shipped out as soon as possible. I sent you an email this morning. Please feel free to reply back with the best contact number if you would like me to reach out so we can discuss further!
I ordered from these guys and took advantage of free shipping promo they had, it took for ever to arrive. I asked to return the item so they charged me for shipping and deducted it from the return.
Hi Sandra, I apologize we did not do a better job on your purchase. SHOP.CA offers free returns on almost all items on our site as long as the product qualifies for our return policy.
Hey Lindsay, if your item happens to be damaged during shipment please let us know right away and we will absolutely work with our merchant to ensure that a replacement is sent out to you!
Hey Amanda, you can definitely use your PayPal account for purchases on SHOP.CA!
Hi Sean, You will notice that we are responding to all comments and have now, finally, resumed normal services. Our email response times are within 24 hours and all items are being delivered ina timely manner. The cash back programs are running along with other affiliates and aeroplan deals. As you can imagine, ever since the bankruptcy news, getting stability back was our biggest concern. We are working very hard to win back our customers and vendors because we understand that the faith had dropped. But we want to continue the good work that was being done before. You can also see from our products that we are reasonably priced. Our motto is not to be the cheapest, but to be the most reliable. And we are working towards that. Hope this helps restoring some faith. Regards
Shop.ca is the starting point for shopping and saving online. We're delivering the very best deals to you and for you, all in one place. Make us your first s...
Thanks Alexander! Hope you continue to shop with us and we will continue to beirng you the best deals for affordable prices.
Cheers!